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ENGLAND 


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GENERAL  FRIEDRICH  VON  BERNHARDI 


GERMANY  AND 
ENGLAND 


BY 

FRIEDRICH  VON  BERNHARDI 

GENERAL  OF  CAVALRY 

AUTHOR  OF 
"GERKANY  AND  THE  NEXT  WAR,"  "  OUR  FUTURE,"  ETC. 


G.  W.  DILLINGHAM  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  NEW  YORK 


COPYRIGHT,  I91S,  BY 
FWEDRICH  VON  BERNHAUM 


Germany  and  England 


GERMANY  AND    ENGLAND 

CHAPTER   I 

FROM  many  letters  which  have 
come  to  me   from  the  United 
States     and     from     American 
newspapers,  I  observe  that  my  books, 
"Germany  and  the  Next  War,"   and 
"Our  Future,"  are  being  used  in  the 
United  States  by  the  press  for  the  pur- 
pose   of    stirring    up    public    opinion 
against  Germany  as  the  Power  really 
responsible  for  the  world  war. 

It  is  alleged  that  I  had,  in  a  frivolous 

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2071064 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

manner,  argued  for  war;  that  I  had 
pictured  war,  and  especially  war  of  con- 
quest, as  a  necessary,  and,  indeed,  the 
most  reliable,  instrument  of  statesman- 
ship ;  that  I  had  preached  a  war  against 
England;  had  proclaimed  that  the  de- 
struction of  the  British  world-empire 
was  a  world  necessity,  and  that  I  had 
put  forward  as  the  essential  aim  of 
German  statesmanship  the  erection  of 
a  German  world-domination. 

Thus  I  am  accused  of  being  a  partici- 
pant in  the  guilt  that  lies  upon  those 
who  began  the  struggle  now  shaking 
the  world,  a  struggle  which,  therefore, 
is  declared  to  have  its  root  and  origin 
4 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

in  the  unheard  of  and  unjustified  claims 
to  power  on  the  part  of  Germany — in 
her  world-threatening  militarism.  Even 
such  innocent  remarks  as  that  the 
Germans  with  the  Irish  represent  in 
the  United  States  a  political  power 
which  an  administration  must  take  into 
account  are  represented  as  though  by 
this  simple  statement  of  fact  I  had  in- 
tended to  point  out  the  possibility  of 
dominating  America's  foreign  policy  in 
the  interest  of  Germany. 

All  this  rests  upon  an  absolutely 
erroneous  understanding  of  what  I 
have  written;  nothing  like  it  can  be 
read  out  of  my  books  unless  one  tears 

5 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

out  of  their  context  certain  details  and 
mistranslates  other  details. 

I  confess  that  sometimes  one  really 
feels  tempted  to  yield  to  the  belief  that 
such  a  misleading  interpretation  of  my 
words  is  the  work  of  conscious  error, 
for  whoever  reads  what  I  have  written 
consecutively  and  without  bias  must — 
if  he  is  an  honest  seeker  after  the  truth 
— arrive  at  a  conception  entirely  dif- 
ferent to  that  which  seems  to  have  be- 
come current  in  America. 

I  have  indeed  proved,  I  think,  that 

war  is  a  necessity  in  the  life  of  nations 

— notwithstanding  that  it  carries  in  its 

train    unspeakable    misery;    notwith- 

6 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

standing  that  often  it  allows  the  lower 
instincts  of  the  human  being  to  assert 
themselves;  for,  on  the  other  hand,  all 
the  noble  characteristics  of  human  na- 
ture, most  noble  of  all  the  unselfish 
devotion  to  an  ideal,  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  in  the  service  of  that  ideal,  are 
in  war  exhibited.  Demonstration  of 
the  possession  of  these  high  qualities 
by  a  nation  would  naturally  lead  it  to 
the  place  of  influence  it  deserved  in 
the  world,  thus  inuring  to  the  further- 
ance of  the  cause  of  civilization  and 
humanity.  This  I  have  proved,  alike 
from  a  study  of  history  and  from  a 
consideration  of  the  nature  of  man, 

7 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

from  a  comparison  of  national  charac- 
teristics and  ideals,  from  a  scrutiny  of 
the  issues  of  the  law  of  combat  in  all 
natural  development.  I  have  claimed 
that  thus  war  has  in  history  justified 
itself  and  would  in  the  future  continue 
so  to  do. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  war  is  justi- 
fied only  when  peaceful  means  fail.  I 
have  always,  and  just  as  emphatically, 
pointed  out  that  war,  and  especially  war 
of  conquest,  must  be  held  an  extraordi- 
nary means  of  politics;  that  it  is  justi- 
fied only  when  waged  for  the  highest 
interests  and  ideals  of  a  nation  and  af- 
ter all  peaceful  means  of  safeguarding 
8 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

those  highest  interests  have  been  ex- 
hausted. I  have  emphasized  in  the 
most  pointed  manner  the  moral  requi- 
sites in  connection  with  a  political  use 
of  warfare,  and  have  especially  and  at 
length  dwelt  upon  the  enormity  of  the 
responsibility  of  him  who  begins  a  war. 
How  despicable  are  wars  waged  for 
frivolous  or  purely  material  purposes 
— this  I  have  not  failed  to  declare ;  how, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  highest  interests 
of  a  nation  must  never  be  sacrificed 
to  nerveless  or  slothful  love  of  peace — 
that  I  have  not  failed  to  assert.  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  historian  and  the 
philosopher  I  admit  it  to  be  my  opinion 

9 


GERMANY  AND   ENGLAND 

that  it  may  be  not  only  the  right,  but, 
under  certain  circumstances,  the  duty 
of  a  free  nation,  to  seize  arms  and  to 
submit  itself  to  all  the  external  misery 
of  war  in  order  that  it  may  safeguard 
that  which  for  it  is  the  highest  and 
most  holy. 

I  should  think  that  in  a  very  special 
way  the  American  people,  who  won 
their  liberty  in  a  conflict  against  Eng- 
land, and  who  achieved  the  acknowl- 
edged sovereignty  of  the  Federal  Union 
only  through  the  heroic  struggle  in 
which  two  sincere  interpretations  of 
the  American  Constitution  gloriously 
contended  on  the  battlefields  of  '6i-'65, 
10 


GERMANY  AND   ENGLAND 

would  have  a  lively  understanding  of 
this  view. 

Can  it  be  believed  that  Americans, 
heirs  of  this  tradition  of  the  necessity 
of  warfare,  would  see  the  development 
of  their  nation  interfered  with,  its  des- 
tiny thwarted,  for  instance,  by  the  vio- 
lation of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  the  de- 
nial of  American  authority  over  the 
Panama  Canal  or  by  attack  upon  its 
insular  possessions,  without  resorting 
to  arms  for  the  protection  of  its  vital 
interests?  Can  it  be  doubted  then  that 
America  must  have  in  its  heart  a  sym- 
pathetic understanding,  when  once  it 
has  heard  the  truth  concerning  it,  of 
ii 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

the  position  of  Germany  and  the  beha- 
vior of  Germany — Germany,  threat- 
ened from  all  sides;  Germany,  whose 
"militarism"  has  only  the  purpose  of 
enabling  her  to  ward  off  the  attacks  of 
enemies  who  would  instantly  over- 
power the  defenseless? 

It  is  from  this  standpoint  that  my 
books,  therefore,  maintained  that  war 
may,  under  certain  circumstances,  be- 
come necessary,  and  pointed  out  in  par- 
ticular that  a  war  between  Germany 
and  England  was  in  all  probability  in- 
evitable ;  pointed  out  the  necessity  that, 
such  being  the  case,  Germany  must 
prepare  herself  both  from  the  political 

12 


and  the  military  standpoint,  for  the 
possibility. 

It  was  by  no  means  from  the  assump- 
tion that  the  destruction  of  English 
world-domination  is  a  preliminary  con- 
dition necessary  for  the  natural  devel- 
opment of  Germany  that  I  deduced  the 
inevitability  of  such  a  war;  much  less 
from  an  assumption  that  Germany 
could  attain  a  world-domination,  justly 
due  her,  only  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
British  Empire. 

The  exact  opposite  is  the  case. 

I  showed  that  our  Fatherland  would 
and  could  very  well  satisfy  all  its  in- 
terests alongside  of  England,  and  that 

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GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

it  would  far  prefer  to  live  in  peace  with 
England.  I  expressed  this  most  explic- 
itly. I  admitted,  indeed,  that  peaceful 
development,  the  one  alongside  of  the 
other,  however  desirable,  was  not  a  his- 
toric probability,  for  the  reason  that 
England  would  not  have  it  that  way, 
but  would  force  us  into  conflict. 


CHAPTER  II 

I  PROVED  from  history  that  dur- 
ing recent  centuries  it  had  been 
England's  aim  to  play  the  Euro- 
pean states  against  each  other;  that  it 
had  always  made  anxious   efforts  to 
maintain     equilibrium     among     those 
states,  never  tolerating  that  any  should 
rise  to  a  position  of  power  that  might 
become  dangerous  to  England  herself; 
that  England  had  developed  her  naval 
power  to  its  imposing  strength  in  order 
to  be  able  to  control,  and  under  circum- 
stances limit,  the  overseas  relations  of 
15 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

the  continental  European  states,  if  they 
should  ever  appear  to  threaten  Eng- 
land's interests. 

I  deduced  that  this  policy  would  in 
all  probability  be  carried  out  with  re- 
spect to  Germany,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Germany's  commerce  and  Ger- 
many's marine  had  shown  a  develop- 
ment threatening  even  for  England. 
Evidences  of  these  anti-German  pur- 
poses were  to  be  found  a-plenty.  In 
East  Africa  England  had  prevented  the 
natural  rounding  out  of  our  colonial 
possessions. 

When  the  Morocco  question  arose, 
though  we  violated  no  right  in  Eng- 
16 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

land,  this  policy  met  and  faced  us;  in 
our  railway  policy  in  Asia  Minor  it 
crossed  our  purposes  without  a  shadow 
of  justification  or  right;  everywhere 
the  English  have  undertaken  to  limit 
our  national  development,  and  throw 
our  allies  aside  from  us. 

And,  always,  in  order  to  avoid  war, 
we  have  retired;  always  we  have  at- 
tenipted  to  direct  the  development  of 
our  economic  and  political  necessities 
alongside  of  England  and  not  against 
England — that  is  the  truth. 

England  is  determined  to  crush  Ger- 
many's rise.    In  view  of  the  whole  po- 
litical scene  as  it  had  developed  when  I 
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GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

wrote  my  books;  in  view,  especially,  of 
the  English-FVench-Russian  Entente, 
which  manifestly  was  prosecuting  posi- 
tive purposes,  I  had  reached  the  convic- 
tion that  England  would  in  the  future, 
as  it  had  done  in  the  past,  and  if  neces- 
sary with  brute  force,  prevent  any  ex- 
tension of  Germany's  power.  That,  for 
this  reason,  war  must  sooner  or  later 
come — not  because  we  desired  to  de- 
stroy the  English  world-empire,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  because  England  would 
endeavor  by  force  to  prevent  us  devel- 
oping alongside  of  herself  into  a  real 
world  power — that  was  my  conviction. 
Even  from  purely  military  reasons 
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GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

it  was  most  unlikely — or  rather  it  was 
out  of  the  question — that  we  should 
ever  have  thought  of  attacking  Eng- 
land. I  put  this  very  clearly  in  my  book 
"Germany  and  the  Next  War" — a  fact 
which  of  course  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
press  campaign  for  England.  For, 
while  England  is  in  a  position  to  do  us 
very  heavy  damage  without  any  risk 
to  herself  by  bringing  to  a  stop  our 
entire  overseas  trade,  thanks  to  a  fleet 
three  times  ours  in  strength,  we  are  as 
good  as  powerless  against  England. 

So  long  as  the  British  fleet  remains 
intact  there  can  be  no  thought  of  cross- 
ing to  England  with  an  army,  and  the 

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GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

most  we  could  do  would  be  to  damage 
British  commerce  to  a  very  limited  ex- 
tent. These  facts  are  not  changed  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  English  peo- 
ple fear  a  German  invasion — a  fear 
which  I  am  sure  is  not  shared  by  the 
British  Government. 

And  where  have  we  ever  exhibited 
politically  the  slightest  intimation  of 
making  war  on  England?  The  Triple 
Alliance  has  always  been,  as  it  was  es- 
tablished to  be,  a  coalition  for  defense 
alone.  And  where,  I  ask,  have  we  Ger- 
mans ever  violated  an  English  right? 
Where  have  we  opposed  just  English 
interests?  By  what  concrete  act  have 

20 


GERMANY  AND   ENGLAND 

we  ever  exhibited  a  feeling  of  antag- 
onism toward  England? 

The  famous  Krueger  dispatch  and 
the  sympathy  with  the  German  people 
for  the  Boers  in  their  losing  fight  for 
liberty — these  probably  constitute  all 
the  evidence  that  England  could  cite. 
But  those  were  nothing  more  than  ex- 
pressions of  sentiment,  in  no  manner 
an  exhibition  of  partisanship.  On  the 
contrary,  during  the  Boer  war  official 
Germany  maintained  a  strict  neutrality 
which  indeed  operated  as  friendly  to 
England. 

That  the  heart  of  the  German  people 
was  on  the  side  of  the  oppressed 
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GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

sprung  from  a  conscience  which  it  is 
a  good  right  of  a  people  to  possess,  and 
whose  voice  it  is  no  duty  of  theirs  to 
silence.  Yet  for  this  we  should  expect 
to  find  understanding  and  sympathy 
especially  in  free  America,  which  would 
have  to  renounce  the  very  principles  of 
its  being  if  it  were  to  take  the  part  of 
the  oppressor  of  a  free  people. 

Just  as  untrue  as  the  claim  that  I 
urged  war  against  England  is  the  other 
claim  that  I  held  the  attainment  of  Ger- 
man world-dominion  to  be  the  real  and 
natural  aim  of  German  development 
and,  therefore,  also  of  German  policy. 

This   allegation  can  only  be  based 

22 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

upon  a  mistaken  translation  of  what  I 
have  written  or  upon  reliance  on  para- 
graphs here  and  there,  separated  from 
all  connection  with  my  true  course  of 
thought. 

World  power,  not  world-dominion, 
expresses  my  true  meaning.  It  is  a 
fact  that  a  chapter  in  my  book  is 
entitled  "World  Power  or  Decline" 
— ("Weltmacht  oder  Niedergang"  ) .  It 
is,  however,  a  great  error  to  understand 
the  word  "Weltmacht"  as  "world-do- 
minion" or  "world-empire."  Such  a 
misunderstanding  was  easily  avoidable 
by  any  who  considered  that  the  entire 
contents  of  my  writing  repudiates  the 

23 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

idea  of  world-domination  such  as  is 
admittedly  the  aim  of  England,  and  ad- 
vocates only  the  idea  of  world  power — 
that  is,  an  independent  and  autonomous 
position  of  consideration  alongside  that 
of  the  other  great  cultural  nations  of 
the  earth. 

To  this  point  I  shall  refer  later  in 
greater  detail.  Here  I  shall  only  dis- 
cuss the  one  point  made  in  America 
against  the  German  position,  namely, 
my  statement  that  a  united  stand  by 
the  Germans  and  the  Irish  in  America 
might  become  politically  advantageous 
to  us,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  two 
strains  of  derivation  represent,  when 
24 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

united,  a  factor  in  the  United  States 
which  the  Government  would  have  to 
take  into  account. 

Certainly  no  one  who  reads  this  par- 
ticular part  of  my  book  without  bias 
can  possibly  find  a  justifiable  point  of 
attack  here.  Everyone  who  knows 
America  even  to  a  slight  extent  knows 
that  all  citizens  of  this  great  republic 
are,  in  the  first  place,  Americans,  and 
with  that  irremovable  and  unshakable 
loyalty  they  stand  by  the  Republic  on 
whose  soil  they  have  won  the  right  to 
live,  to  whose  welfare  their  efforts  are 
devoted  and  their  lives  consecrated. 

Nevertheless,  these  citizens  of  vari- 

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GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

cms  descent  do  not  utterly  deny  the 
source  of  their  blood,  but  with  pardon- 
able affection  cherish  the  language  of 
their  fathers,  regard  with  affection  the 
customs  of  their  old  home  and  are  in- 
terested in  its  fate.  No  one  fails  to 
recognize  the  paternal  nationality  of 
the  American-Irishman;  the  German- 
American  is  still  recognizable,  and 
those  of  more  direct  English  descent 
pride  themselves  on  their  ancestry. 
These  last  have  a  lively  sympathy  for 
England,  and  consider  it  no  violation 
of  their  love  for  their  own  country  to 
work  with  all  means  toward  the  tight- 
ening of  the  bonds  between  their  pres- 
26 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

ent  fatherland  and  the  country  of  their 
ancestors.  No  one  in  America  thinks 
the  worse  of  them  for  that;  everybody, 
even  in  America,  finds  that  perfectly 
natural. 

When,  however,  the  Germans  find 
themselves  in  political  agreement,  and 
especially  when  their  political  views 
coincide  with  those  of  the  Irish — 
namely,  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  no  duty 
of  the  United  States  to  take  part  in 
favor  of  England  against  Germany — 
why,  then  the  entire  press  influenced 
by  England  hurls  its  attack. 

Only  natural  causes  were  pointed 
out.  My  harmless  statement  of  the 
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GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

simple  fact  that  coincidence  of  view  be- 
tween Americans  of  German  and  Irish 
descent  constituted  a  political  factor 
which  practical  politics  would  not  be 
likely  altogether  to  disregard  is  inter- 
preted as  a  threat  that  plotting  German 
politicians  would  attempt  to  exercise  an 
authoritative  influence  upon  the  inte- 
rior destiny  and  upon  the  foreign  pol- 
icy of  the  United  States.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  I  only  pointed  out  that  natural 
causes,  quite  outside  of  the  manipula- 
tion of  scheming  politicians,  operated 
to  bring  about  within  the  United  States 
a  political  grouping  which  was  an  ele- 
ment in  the  situation. 
28 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

Of  course,  if  simple  statements  of 
matters  of  fact,  matters  of  fact  which 
may  not  be  neglected  in  any  intelligent 
discussion  among  serious-minded  peo- 
ple endeavoring  to  marshal  the  factors 
of  a  problem,  are  to  be  taken  up  in  this 
way  and  interpreted  as  aggressive  and 
sinister  expressions,  why,  discussion 
ceases.  If  public  opinion  in  America 
is  so  prejudiced  against  Germany  that 
it  imports  into  calm  scientific  state- 
ments like  these  of  mine  meanings 
which  are  not  there,  prejudice  may 
justify  itself  and  strengthen  itself,  but 
it  will  do  nothing  toward  attaining  the 
truth. 

29 


CHAPTER  III 

IF,  therefore,  the  manner  in  which 
my  writings  are  being  used 
in  order  to  create  sentiment 
against  Germany  must  be  branded  as 
thoroughly  unjustified,  this  is  only  an 
illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  a 
large  part  of  German  literature  is  be- 
ing drawn  upon  in  order  to  adduce  evi- 
dence that  Germany  long  ago  planned 
war  against  England  and  that  for  years 
the  only  thought  that  has  stirred  the 
soul  of  the  German  people  has  been 
that  of  destroying  England's  world- 

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GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

dominion  and  replacing  it  by  a  German 
world-empire. 

A  collection,  fascinatingly  written, 
of  German  expressions  which  are  made 
to  serve  the  purpose  of  promoting  mis- 
understanding between  Germany  and 
the  United  States  is  furnished  in  a  book 
entitled  "Germany  and  England,"  writ- 
ten by  the  late  J.  A.  Cramb,  professor 
in  Queens  College,  London,  the  Ameri- 
can edition  of  which  is  enhanced  by  a 
preface  written  by  an  ex- American 
Ambassador  to  England,  Mr.  Joseph  H. 
Choate. 

It  is  worth  while  to  discuss  some- 
what in  detail  the  contents  of  this  re- 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

markable  book,  especially  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  it  preserves  the  appearance 
of  impartiality;  that  in  a  certain  sense 
it  does  justice  to  the  importance  of 
England,  and  for  these  reasons,  of 
course,  is  taken  the  more  seriously. 

Nevertheless  the  book  is,  in  so  far 
as  it  deals  with  conditions  in,  and  the 
aims  of  Germany,  utterly  untrust- 
worthy. It  is  a  work  written  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  furnishing  an  argu- 
ment for  general  obligatory  military 
service  in  England.  It  therefore  pic- 
tures the  dangers  threatening  England, 
especially  from  Germany,  in  the  black- 
est of  colors. 

32 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

It  is  probable  that  Professor  Cramb, 
under  the  influence  of  his  ruling  pur- 
pose, really  believed  what  in  brilliant 
words  he  confided  to  these  pages;  the 
book  even  bears  the  stamp  of  a  cer- 
tain internal  conviction.  The  author, 
however,  clearly  began  the  study  of 
Germany  with  prejudiced  mind;  he  has 
read  into  German  literature  whatever 
he  wanted  to  find  therein,  and  he  has 
interpreted  the  life  and  aims  of  the 
German  people  from  the  standpoint  of 
his  predetermined  conclusion;  he  has 
nowhere  entered  into  the  depths  of 
things ;  the  true  German  nature  has  re- 
mained a  closed  book  to  him,  even 

33 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

though  he  has  given,  in  certain  phases, 
an  almost  complimentary  picture  of 
Germany. 

Being  anxious  to  make  obligatory 
military  service  palatable  to  the  Eng- 
lish, he,  of  course,  cannot  picture  in  an 
unfavorable  light  conditions  in  a  coun- 
try which  has  inaugurated  such  service. 
On  the  contrary,  he  is  obliged  to  pic- 
ture them  as  model  conditions,  and  he 
really  does  that  in  so  far  as  it  serves 
his  purpose.  But  his  statements  are 
transformed  for  the  purpose  of  argu- 
ment. 

Professor  Cramb  also  takes  up  my 
book  "Germany  and  the  Next  War." 
34 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

The  American  edition  of  Professor 
Cramb's  book  bears  on  its  cover  the 
legend,  "Bernhardi  Answered."  It  is 
to  "Germany  and  the  Next  War"  that 
he  gives  his  principal  attention.  The 
tendency  of  his  mind  is  revealed  in  his 
habit  of  completely  transforming  the 
sense  of  my  statements  in  order  to  be 
able  to  use  them  in  the  spirit  of  his 
preconceived  conclusion. 

He  finds  the  chief  interest  of  my 
words  to  consist  in  their  alleged  at- 
tempt to  find  a  moral  justification  for 
war  by  Germany  against  England.  "Is 
it  possible  to  find  any  moral  justifica- 
tion for  a  war  upon  England  ?"  This  is 

35 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

supposed  to  be  the  problem  the  answer 
to  which  forms  the  innermost  purpose 
of  my  book. 

This,  however,  is  a  direct  and  an  ab- 
solute misrepresentation.  The  putting 
of  such  a  question,  even  to  my  own 
imagination,  was  altogether  impossible, 
for  the  reason  that  I  took  the  stand- 
point that  Germany  would  not  and 
should  not  attack  England,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  England  would  attack 
us!  My  book,  therefore,  felt  no  need 
of  finding  a  moral  justification  for  this 
war,  though  it  did  not  fail  to  inquire 
how  England  would  ever  be  able  to 
justify  ethically  its  attack  upon  us.  (It 

36 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

is  an  attack  for  which  we  gave  not  the 
slightest  just  cause;  the  violation  of 
Belgium's  neutrality,  employed  by  Eng- 
land as  the  pretext  for  the  waging  of 
the  war  planned  long  ago,  was  not  com- 
mitted first  by  us ;  France,  England  and 
Belgium  themselves  had  violated  this 
neutrality  before  ever  a  German  soldier 
put  his  foot  on  Belgian  soil.) 

It  is  true  that  I  exhibited  reasons 
which  forced  us  to  seek  an  extension 
of  power;  yet  nowhere  have  I  inti- 
mated, even  by  so  much  as  a  single 
word,  that  this  should  be  done  at  the 
expense  of  England.  Everywhere  I 
emphasized  the  truth  that  we  preferred 

37 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

to  live  in  peace  with  England;  that 
England,  however,  would  not  permit  us 
free  development,  and  that  therefore  a 
war  would  be  unavoidable.  Thus  it 
has  come  to  pass  in  reality.  England 
has  attacked  us  in  a  most  unjustifiable 
fashion  for  the  purpose  of  checking  our 
political  and  economical  development. 

Professor  Cramb  entirely  alters  the 
sense  of  my  book  by  translating  my 
alternative,  "Weltmacht  oder  Nieder- 
gang,"  which,  correctly  translated, 
means  "World-Power  or  Decline,"  with 
the  words,  "World-Dominion  or 
Death."  Every  line  in  my  book 
proves  that  I  never  thought  of  world- 

38 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

dominion  by  Germany,  certainly  that  I 
never  demanded  world-dominion  for 
her.  Another  instance,  perhaps  wor- 
thy of  noting,  of  Professor  Cramb's 
inaccuracy  may  be  gathered  from  his 
remark:  "Bernhardi's  opinion  of  our 
commanders  is  written  all  over  his 
books";  whereas,  in  fact,  only  in  a  sin- 
gle instance  did  I  speak,  and  then  only 
casually,  of  the  higher  military  leader- 
ship of  England. 

In  a  similar  manner  does  Professor 
Cramb  treat  German  literature  in  gen- 
eral, in  so  far  as  it  is  known  to  him — 
and  to  all  appearances  that  is  not  far. 
Haeusser,  Giesebrecht,  Waitz,  Mom- 

39 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

meen,  Treitschke  and  others  are  pic- 
tured as  if  by  their  historical  works 
and  scientific  discussions  they  had, 
either  intentionally  or  unintentionally, 
endeavored  to  promote  the  idea  of  Ger- 
man world-dominion. 

Nothing  could  be  further  from  the 
truth.  It  would  seem  to  be  an  abso- 
lutely willful  misconstruction  of  the 
work  of  these  men.  Science  with  us  isi 
impersonal,  and  with  us  all  historical1 
research  aims  at  a  detached  impartial- 
ity as  perfect  as  is  possible  for  the 
human  mind.  Almost  never  is  the 
work  of  German  scientists  or  historians 
40 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

knowingly  allowed  to  take  on  political 
color. 

Even  Treitschke,  to  whom  an  entire 
chapter  is  devoted  and  who  admittedly 
follows  a  decidedly  national  tendency, 
keeps  thoroughly  aloof  from  such  top- 
ics as  aspiration  to  world-dominion. 
By  his  inspired  and  inspiring  writings, 
as  well  as  through  the  living  word  of 
his  lectures,  Treitschke  undoubtedly 
contributed  to  the  promotion  of  Ger- 
man consciousness  of  herself  and  to 
the  fostering  of  the  longing  for  in- 
creased political  power;  but  that  he 
dreamed  any  dream  of  German  world- 
dominion  is  a  pure  invention  by  Pro- 
41 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

fessor  Cramb.  Treitschke  was  much 
too  real  and  too  sober  a  thinker  for 
that.  Treitschke  also,  like  myself,  was 
convinced  that  England  would  oppose 
with  all  its  might  the  further  develop- 
ment of  Germany,  so  much  so  that  we 
would  have  to  reckon  with  her  opposi- 
tion. Even  from  military  considera- 
tions Treitschke  looked  upon  the  idea 
of  a  war  of  aggression  against  England 
with  precisely  as  little  favor  as  I  look 
upon  it. 

But    Professor    Cramb    cites    even 
Goethe  to  establish  proof  of  this  lust 
for  world-dominion  on  the  part  of  the 
42 


> 

Germans.     The  poet  represents  Faust 
as  speaking  thus  to  the  earth: 

"Thou  wak'st  and  stir'st  in  me  a  strong  re- 
solve : 
"Toward  highest  being  onward  still  to  strive." 

Professor  Cramb  asks  what  Goethe 
meant  by  this  "highest  existence,"  this 
highest  ideal,  and  he  answers  instantly 
and  easily,  "World-dominion."  It  is 
certainly  extraordinary  that  a  man  of 
intelligence  and  education  should  allow 
himself,  even  though  through  precon- 
ceptions, however  strong,  to  be  drawn 
into  so  groundless  and  frivolous  a 
declaration ! 

The  idea  that  Goethe  had  the  thought 

43 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

of  German  world-dominion  can  scarcely 
be  taken  seriously.  To  make  so  un- 
founded a  deduction  from  Faust  he 
must  have  judged  his  readers  entirely 
without  knowledge  of  German  litera- 
ture and  German  history.  But  then 
Professor  Cramb  felt  that  Germany 
had  to  be  convicted  of  aggressive 
thoughts  and  an  aggressive  attitude 
toward  England  in  order  to  justify  the 
English  policy  of  might ;  he  felt  it  neces- 
sary that  Germany  for  a  long  time 
past  should  have  carried  constantly  in 
its  mind  this  idea  of  attacking  Eng- 
land and  this  hope  of  establishing  its 
44 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

own  world-dominion  on  the  ruins  of 
the  British  Empire. 

All  this  had  to  be  prepared  in  ad- 
vance; consequently,  Professor  Cramb 
finds  it  necessary,  and  not  a  difficult 
task,  to  forget  the  greater  part  of  Ger- 
man literature  and  to  put  into  the  little 
part  with  which  he  is  acquainted 
thoughts  and  tendencies  which  it  never 
had.  That  nobody  in  England  could 
"bring  him  to  book"  he  knew  very  well, 
for  practically  nobody  in  England 
knows  the  German  language,  while  so 
far  as  German  literature  is  concerned 
there  rules  (Cramb  says  so  himself) 
the  most  abysmal  ignorance.  But 
K45 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

America,  with  its  far  deeper  knowledge 
of  German  literature,  surely  will  not  be 
so  easily  fooled.  One  needs  only  to 
read  the  books  mentioned  by  Professor 
Cramb  in  order  to  convince  oneself  that 
the  professor  has  read  them  with  an 
astonishing  play  of  imagination. 

Completely  also  does  he  misjudge  the 
motives  which  rule  the  innermost 
thoughts  of  the  people  of  GeEmany. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PROFESSOR   CRAMB  believes 
Charlemagne's  dream  is  alive 
to-day.     He  believes  that  the 
dream  of  empire,  once  in  former  times 
held,  that  the  efforts  at  world-domina- 
tion made  by  Charlemagne  of  the  Sax- 
on Emperors  and  by  the  Hohenstau- 
fens  even  to-day  remains  alive  in  the 
thoughts    and   dreams   of   the   people. 
Nothing  could  be  further  removed  from 
the  truth.    Of  course,  in  poetry  as  well 
as  in  the  souls  of  the  people,  in  some  of 
its  phases,  the  Barbarossa  fable  lives, 
47 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

the  thought  that  the  buried  Emperor 
will,  at  the  appointed  time,  emerge  from 
the  Kyffhaeuser  where  he  sleeps,  and 
will  renew  the  power  of  the  German 
Empire.  But  then  the  fulfillment  of 
this  dream  is  held  to  have  occurred  in 
the  presence  of  Emperor  William  I. 
Nothing  is  further  from  German 
thought  than  to  see  in  this  legend  the 
idea  of  world-dominion;  on  the  con- 
trary, only  the  most  general  concep- 
tions of  power  and  imperial  glory  are 
blended  with  the  fading  memory  of  the 
past. 

In  German  schools,  Greek  and  Latin 
history  is  taught  more  thoroughly  than 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

German  history ;  and  when  German  his- 
tory is  taught  it  is  always  pointed  out 
how  the  German  nation,  with  its  one- 
time tendency  toward  world-dominion, 
had  strayed  from  its  proper  paths;  the 
chief  interest  of  the  present  in  German 
history  is  found  not  in  those  false  ten- 
dencies, but  rather  in  the  contest 
against  the  idea  of  a  dominating  re- 
ligious Empire.  It  is  the  memory  of 
the  struggle  for  spiritual  freedom,  and 
not  the  worldly  aims  of  the  earlier  im- 
perial days,  that  are  to-day  able  to  stir 
to  its  depths  the  soul  of  the  German 
people. 

Just  as  erroneous  as  is  the  effort  to 

49 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

prove  the  vanished  Middle  Age  idea  of 
empire  a  living  thing  in  modern  Ger- 
many are  Professor  Cramb's  ideas  as  to 
the  religious  tendencies  which  move  our 
people  to-day.  Here,  too,  one  notices 
the  intention  to  find  among  Germans 
the  disposition  to  violence ;  for  instance, 
to  picture  our  politics  as  influenced  by 
Nietzsche's  "master  and  slave  moral- 
ity," and  to  be  permeated  by  the  Na- 
poleonic thought  of  world-conquest. 
All  this  is  the  most  absolute  perversion 
of  the  truth. 

Professor  Cramb  overestimates  tre- 
mendously the  influence  of  Nietzsche 
in  Germany.    This  writer's  attempt  to 
50 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

supplant  the  altruistic  morals  of  Chris- 
tianity by  the  ethics  of  egotism  and 
self -striving,  the  morality  consisting  of 
the  self-assertion  of  superior  mortals, 
is,  it  is  perfectly  true,  being  studied  in 
Germany.  It  is  absurd,  however,  to 
claim  that  the  teachings  of  Nietzsche 
have  overwhelmed  the  conscience  of 
the  German  people  or  that  they  influ- 
ence German  politics.  Such  an  asser- 
tion could  only  be  made  by  one  who 
lacks  all  comprehension  of  the  German 
mind,  and  he  has  only  learned  to  know, 
and  that  superficially,  an  isolated  circle 
of  so-called  "young  Germany,"  polit- 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

ically  and  philosophically  more  or  less 
unripe ! 

Even  more  adventurous  than  this 
overestimation  of  Nietzsche,  yet  in 
close  connection  with  it,  is  the  inven- 
tion of  "Napoleonism,"  which  is  pic- 
tured as  ruling  Berlin  to-day  and  as 
possessing  in  the  atmosphere  of  that 
city  "something  of  the  clearness  and 
consistency  of  a  formulated  creed."  It 
is  asserted  that  a  deep  reverence  is 
growing  up  in  Germany  "for  the  creed 
and  the  religion"  toward  which  this 
great  and  solitary  spirit  .  .  .  strug- 
gled." And  the  professor  rises  to  a 
phrase  which,  however  resounding,  is, 
52 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

if  one  knows  Germany,  altogether  ab- 
surd: "Corsica,  in  a  word,  has  con- 
quered Galilee!"  Where,  except  in  his 
own  brain,  can  Professor  Cramb  possi- 
bly have  discovered  these  ideas? 

In  Germany,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
there  is  no  Napoleonism,  in  Professor 
Cramb's  sense,  at  all.  As  a  general, 
we  admire  Bonaparte;  for  his  mental 
powers  we  esteem  him;  and  as  soldiers 
we  try  to  learn  from  him;  but  for  his 
ego-religion,  which,  it  is  true,  bears  a 
certain  resemblance  to  Nietzsche's 
ideas — in  Germany,  aside  perhaps  from 
a  few  unripe  spirits  and  youthful  sky- 
stormers,  there  can  be  found  no  appre- 
53 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

ciation.  The  creed  is  absolutely  op- 
posed to  the  German  idea,  to  which 
everywhere  service  to  the  cause  stands 
superior  to  service  to  the  person;  in 
which  altruism  has  become  second  na- 
ture; in  which  true  greatness  is  exhib- 
ited in  honest  work  and  in  unselfish 
devotion  to  ideal  aims;  opposed  abso- 
lutely to  the  German  nature,  which, 
since  the  amazing  development  of  the 
Prussian  state  and  the  coincident  revival 
of  the  German  Empire,  has  learned 
fortitude  in  misfortune  and  generosity 
in  victory,  has  learned  self-control  from 
its  long  past,  marked  by  tragic  disaster 
and  splendid  success,  and  to-day  fol- 
54 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

lows  only  aims  within   the  realm  of 
possibility. 

An  earnest  desire  is  felt  for  reli- 
gious freedom  throughout  Germany. 
There  is  indeed  penetrating  the  best 
souls  of  our  nation  a  deep  impulse.  It 
is  not,  however,  one  which  finds  its 
expression  either  in  Napoleonism  or  in 
the  ideas  of  Nietzsche,  but  in  a  truly 
religious  field;  in  the  striving  of  the 
individual  for  spiritual  freedom.  This 
striving  finds  its  inspiration  in  Chris- 
tian morals  from  which  the  husks  of 
bygone  time  have  been  stripped,  and  in 
an  enlightened  patriotism,  a  determined 
resolution  to  secure  for  the  German 

55 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

nation  that  position  alongside  of  the 
other  great  cultural  nations  which  cor- 
responds to  its  spiritual  importance. 
Neither  a  new  world  religion  nor  a 
new  world-dominion  is  sought  in 
Germany. 

If  one  wishes  to  describe  the  Ger- 
man idea  in  brief  words  probably  it  can 
hardly  be  better  done  than  by  those 
of  Longfellow: 

"Not  enjoyment  and  not  sorrow 
Is  our  destined  end  or  way, 

But  to  act  that  each  to-morrow 
Find  us  farther  than  to-day. 

Let  us  then  be  up  and  doing 
With  a  heart  for  any  fate, 

Still  achieving,  still  pursuing, 
Learn  to  labor  and  to  wait." 

56 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

Professor  Cramb's  book,  in  so  far  as 
it  professes  to  be  a  description  of  Ger- 
man conditions  and  an  exhibition  of  the 
German  idea,  is  a  falsehood  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  a  falsehood  set  forth  in 
brilliant  words,  and  in  part  possibly  an 
unconscious  falsehood,  but  a  falsehood 
nevertheless. 


57 


CHAPTER  V 

JUST  as  in  pretending  to  judge  Ger- 
many Professor  Cramb  falls  into 
complete  error,  so,  when  he  con- 
siders England,  does  he  exhibit  pecu- 
liar illusions.  Here  he  displays  a  pic- 
ture, shining,  ideal,  magnificently  con- 
ceived, sketched  in  scintillant  verbiage. 
But  yet  one  is  obliged  again  and  again 
to  ask  oneself  whether,  in  the  face  of 
naked  truth,  he  could  really  have  be- 
lieved what  he  wrote  in  pages  like 
these : 

"To  give  all  men  within  its  bounds 

58 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

an  English  mind;  to  give  all  who  come 
within  its  sway  the  power  to  look  at 
the  things  of  man's  life,  at  the  past,  at 
the  future,  from  the  standpoint  of  an 
Englishman;  to  diffuse  within  its 
bounds  that  high  tolerance  in  religion 
which  has  marked  this  empire  from  its 
foundation;  that  reverence,  yet  bold- 
ness, before  the  mysteriousness  of  life 
and  death  characteristic  of  our  great 
poets  and  our  great  thinkers;  that  love 
of  free  institutions,  that  pursuit  of 
even  higher  justice  and  a  larger  free- 
dom, which,  rightly  or  wrongly,  we 
associate  with  the  temper  and  charac- 
59 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

ter  of  our  race,  wherever  it  is  dominant 
and  secure." 

Thus  does  Professor  Cramb  picture 
the  beautiful  aims  of  British  imperial- 
ism, while  Germany  is  accused  not  only 
of  aiming  at  a  merely  material  world- 
dominion,  but  even  at  a  dominion  of 
merely  German  intellect  and  German 
culture. 

While  this  supposed  purpose  is  rep- 
resented as  one  that  must  lead  to  war 
with  England  for  the  reason  that  it 
could  be  established  only  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  British  Empire,  no  mention  is 
indulged  of  the  fact  that  the  British 
dream  can  be  realized  only  by  the  de- 
60 


struction  of  Germany,  whose  spiritual 
ideals  and  mental  habits  are  in  many 
ways  inconsistent  with  British  stand- 
ards. It  is  a  prerogative,  self-claimed 
as  a  matter  of  course  for  English 
world-empire,  that  all  human  beings  are 
to  be  pressed  into  the  English  pattern 
and  raised  to  look  at  everything  in  the 
world  from  the  standpoint  of  an  Eng- 
lishman. 

Assuredly  it  is  a  great  and  daring 
conception  to  attempt  to  make  the 
whole  world  English,  a  conception 
which  Lord  Rosebery  once  expressed; 
yet  the  conception  conceals  a  gigantic 
self-deception  and  is  in  itself  so  full  of 
61 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

contradiction  that  the  world  need 
hardly  be  expected  to  take  it  seriously. 

Where  would  remain  the  higher  free- 
dom and  justice,  when  human  beings 
throughout  that  part  of  the  world 
which  the  British  Empire  dominates 
should  think  and  feel  as  Englishmen? 
Where  then  would  remain  the  free  de- 
velopment of  national  individualities; 
where  the  just  representation  of  varied 
interests  if  the  British  standpoint  alone 
is  to  rule? 

How    can    that    country    prate    of 

higher  freedom  and  justice  which  for 

centuries   has   held    Ireland   enslaved; 

which     for    low    mercenary    motives 

62 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

robbed  the  Boers  of  their  freedom, 
granting  them  finally  a  certain  measure 
of  self-government  only  because — ac- 
cording to  English  testimony — Eng- 
land was  unable  to  conquer  them  abso- 
lutely in  a  military  sense ;  *  which  by 
treachery  and  brute  force  subjugated 
India  and  for  selfish  purposes  exploited 
it  ;**  which  in  Egypt  stands  in  the  way 

*  ( Erskine  Chilslera :  War  and  the  arm 
blanche  "To  .  .  .  aim  at  so  cowing  the  Boer 
national  spirit,  to  gain  a  permanent  political 
ascendancy  for  ourselves,  was  the  object  be- 
yond our  power.  .  .  .  To  achieve  .  .  . 
peaceable  political  fusion  under  our  own  flag, 
was  the  utmost  we  could  secure.  That  meant 
conditional  surrender  on  the  promise  of  fu- 
ture autonomy.") 

**  India  is  claimed  to  pay  alone  about  four 
hundred  million  marks  for  the  pensioning  of 
English  officers  and  officials. 

63 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

of  cultural  development  because  there- 
in lies  no  direct  advantage  or  gain  for 
England;  which  keeps  the  Fellahs  in 
virtual  slavery;  which,  in  an  hour  of 
perfect  peace  and  without  a  glimmer 
of  justification,  seized  possession  of  the 
free  Malay  States;  which,  wherever 
Germany  tried  by  honest  means  to  in- 
crease its  colonial  possessions  and  its 
sphere  of  influence  without  violating 
even  a  shadow  of  an  English  right,  in 
East  Africa,  in  the  Pacific  and  in  Mo- 
rocco, opposed  Germany's  natural  de- 
velopment with  threats  of  war;  which 
to-day  in  the  United  States,  through 
the  aid  of  an  influenced  press  and  news 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

agencies  helplessly  dependent  upon  the 
British  Foreign  Office,  lays  its  heavy 
hand  upon  public  opinion,  distorting 
the  events  of  every  day,  suppressing 
the  truth,  disseminating  falsehoods,  in 
a  calculated  effort  to  make  this  free 
land  subservient  to  English  interests 
and  to  the  English  standpoint;  which 
everywhere  spreads  the  ridiculous 
claim  that  a  strong  and  independent 
nation  of  Germans  would  be  a  danger 
to  America  and  would  violate  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
our  interests  everywhere  are  common 
with  those  of  America;  which  every- 
where attempts  to  brand  German  mili- 

65 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

tarism,  which  has  only  a  defensive  sig- 
nificance, as  a  constant  challenge  to 
combat,  while  yet  it  remains  silent  as 
the  tomb  on  the  subject  of  the  English 
sea-militarism,  which  controls  the  en- 
tire maritime  intercourse  of  the  world ; 
which  raises  no  word  against  the  mili- 
tarism of  Russia  and  France;  which 
for  years  has  been  planning,  together 
with  France,  Russia  and  Belgium,  as  is 
now  proved,  this  war  of  aggression 
against  Germany ;  which  attempted  also 
to  draw  Holland  into  the  plot,  and 
which  finally,  without  justification  and 
without  reason  and  with  only  the  first 
66 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

excuse  which  could  be  hastily  snatched, 
has  attacked  Germany! 

How  convincing  and  beautiful  in  the 
ears  of  every  impartial  being  must 
sound  the  professions  of  that  England 
which  for  centuries  past  has  ruthlessly 
pursued  a  policy  of  self-interest,  has 
been  deaf  and  blind  to  the  rights  of 
neutrals,  wherever  its  own  interests 
were  concerned  —  these  professions 
which  chant  of  higher  freedom  and  jus- 
tice, hymn  its  own  love  for  peace,  raise 
paeans  to  the  noble  aims  of  its  own 
politics ! 

But,  of  course,  higher  liberty  and 
true  justice  may  be — Professor  Cramb 

67 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

gives  his  own  word  for  it — aspired  to 
only  where  the  English  race  rules  ab- 
solutely, "wherever  it  is  dominant  and 
secure."  English  dominance,  there- 
fore, is  the  essential  preliminary  for  the 
realization  of  all  that  is  good. 

Higher  liberty  can  be  found  only 
where  England  rules.  Here  also 
emerges  the  true  meaning  of  many 
things  which  are  hidden  from  the  eyes 
of  the  ignorant  mob.  Liberty  means 
the  liberty  of  the  ruling  nation  to  do 
its  will  upon  subjugated  states;  free- 
dom means  the  freedom  of  the  rich  to 
suppress  the  poor;  justice  in  its  higher 
meaning  is  the  justice  which  the  master 
metes  out  to  his  slaves. 
68 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

All  this  England  clearly  teaches  us. 
The  love  of  peace,  which  England  so 
ardently  professes,  is  to  be  understood 
in  the  same  sense.  Of  course  England 
wants  peace,  and  it  needs  peace,  in  or- 
der to  solve  according  to  its  own  mind 
and  for  its  own  benefit  the  multitudi- 
nous problems  of  its  widely  inconsistent 
mastery  of  subject  races  and  territo- 
ries; but  only  peace  under  English 
domination,  peace  within  the  sphere  of 
its  own  word  and  under  the  police  over- 
sight of  its  fleet.  Whenever  a  people 
or  state  will  not  humiliate  themselves 
to  this  order  of  things,  but  attempt 
to  develop  independent,  autonomous 

69 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

power,  as,  for  instance,  Germany  dares 
attempt  it;  or  wherever  a  territory  at- 
tracts England's  cupidity,  as  did  the 
Boer  republics,  there  England's  love 
for  peace  ceases.  It  is  perhaps  through 
this  much-lauded  love  of  peace  that  the 
mass  of  English  people  have  long  since 
become  unused  to  the  bearing  of  arms, 
but  hordes  of  mercenaries,  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  are  impressed  to 
supplement  the  hired  arm  which  with 
tremendous  efforts  is  slowly  raised  to 
champion  the  cause  of  higher  liberty 
and  a  true  justice. 

If  one  should  desire  to  compare  the 
aims  and  efforts  of  England  with  those 
70 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

of  Germany,  and  to  express  this  com- 
parison briefly  and  pregnantly  in  single 
words,  the  word  for  England  would  be 
dominion,  and  for  Germany — liberty. 

Whoever  studies  the  history  of  Ger- 
many since  the  breakdown  of  the  old 
empire  and  the  triumphs  of  the  papacy 
at  the  end  of  the  Hohenstaufen  era 
will  soon  be  convinced  that  its  essen- 
tial element  was  a  struggle,  not  for 
world-conquest,  as  is  claimed  by  British 
misrepresentations,  but  for  spiritual 
and  political  liberty.  As  far  back  as  in 
the  Roman  days  the  Germans  were 
fighting  for  freedom  and  independence ; 
for  that  they  fought  and  won  their  vic- 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

tories  in  the  Teutoburger  Forest. 
Then,  of  course,  came  the  time  when 
the  Germans  in  overflowing  strength 
poured  out  over  neighboring  lands  and 
did  try  to  extend  their  sway  over  the 
continent.  In  that  effort  the  German 
people  went  on  the  rocks,  and  they  have 
never  since  come  back  to  the  idea. 

In  the  age  of  the  great  discoveries, 
when  the  curtain  was  being  withdrawn 
that  so  long  had  hidden  the  remoter 
regions  of  the  globe,  Germany,  it  hap- 
pened, was  involved  in  great  religious 
wars.  It  therefore  missed  its  chance 
to  take  part  in  the  partition  of  the 
earth.  Its  destiny  in  those  years  was 
72 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

to  lay  the  foundation  for  religious  lib- 
erty upon  which  rests  to-day  the  entire 
culture  of  the  world.  Then,  in  long 
wars  that  brought  heavy  losses,  it  de- 
fended itself  against  the  Spanish  and 
French  lust  for  conquest  and  defended 
the  world  of  culture  against  the  Mos- 
lem invasion.  Under  Frederick  the 
Great,  Prussia,  then  the  seat  of  Ger- 
man intellectual  liberty,  fought  not  only 
to  maintain  its  existence  as  a  State, 
but  also  to  secure  liberty  of  independ- 
ent development  against  the  united 
strength  of  a  retrogressive  world-con- 
ception. 
With  heart  and  soul  Prussia's  great 

73 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

King  at  the  same  time  stood  on  the  side 
of  the  American  champions  of  liberty. 
Later,  when  Napoleon  thought  to  es- 
tablish a  French  world-dominion,  it 
again  was  the  Prussian  and  the  Ger- 
man people  who  took  up  the  sword  for 
the  liberty  of  Europe,  and  with  heroic 
effort  broke  the  chain  of  slavery  which 
the  Corsican  had  forged.  England  did 
fight  bravely  at  Waterloo,  but  that  bat- 
tle was  to  a  large  extent  won  by  Ger- 
man and  Dutch  troops,  just  as  the  vic- 
tories of  Wellington  against  Napole- 
onic dominion  in  Spain  were  won  by 
troops  the  greater  part  of  whom  were 
German. 

74 


GERMANY  AND   ENGLAND 

MANY  WARS  IN  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Then  came  the  wars  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  In  1866  Prussia  fought 
for  and  won  Germany's  independence 
from  Austrian  domination.  In  1870  it 
defended  itself  against  France's  at- 
tempted violations,  and  in  the  struggle 
attained  its  freedom  and  its  imperial 
unity  on  French  soil. 

And  now  the  war  of  to-day! 

Like  all  great  struggles  of  Germany 
since  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  it  is 
a  war  for  liberty  and  independence — 
and  this  time  from  the  yoke  of  Eng- 
land. 

75 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

Together  with  Russia,  a  land  of  des- 
potism unworthy  of  human  nature, 
and  with  France,  thirsting  for  revenge, 
England,  this  land  which  claims  as  its 
own  private  property  all  liberty,  all  jus- 
tice, all  spiritual  superiority,  has  con- 
spired to  overthrow  and  destroy  Ger- 
many, which  never  violated  England's 
rights.  And  why?  Only  because  Ger- 
man commerce  seems  to  be  growing 
burdensome  to  England ;  the  increasing 
German  fleet,  called  into  being  solely  to 
protect  German  commerce,  seems  to  be 
growing  dangerous,  and  the  expand- 
ing vigor  manifested  by  the  German 
people  seems  to  threaten  the  world-do- 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

minion  of  Great  Britain.  Therefore, 
it  calls  its  legions  from  barbarous 
Africa  and  Mongolian  Asia  in  order  to 
have  them  slaughtered  for  England's 
sake,  because  England,  in  spite  of  its 
European  allies,  feels  too  weak  to  fight 
the  war,  unjustifiably  begun,  to  a  vic- 
torious conclusion. 

Against  this  world  in  arms  Germany 
and  Austria  heroically  stand  alone. 
Cut  off  from  world  traffic  and  only 
trusting  to  their  own  strength,  they  are 
fighting  not  alone  for  their  own  right 
to  live  their  national  lives  in  independ- 
ence and  liberty,  but  at  the  same  time 
fighting  the  cause  of  all  nations  for  the 
77 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

freedom  of  the  seas  from  the  yoke  of 
British  naval  supremacy,  and  for  the 
autonomous  right  of  all  states  which 
heretofore  were  obliged — as  Belgium, 
for  instance,  was  obliged — to  bow  to 
the  behests  of  English  domination. 

No,  not  the  dream  of  world-domin- 
ion is  the  ever-inspiring  thought  in  Ger- 
man literature,  but  the  striving  after 
freedom  in  the  fields  of  religious,  of  in- 
tellectual and  of  political  development. 
From  Von  Hutten  and  the  intellectual 
heroes  of  the  Reformation  down  to 
Lessing  and  Schiller,  liberty  is  the  lead- 
ing motive.  In  the  wars  of  independ- 
ence, with  their  inspiring  poets,  the 

78 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

thought  of  freedom  takes  even  a  loftier 
ascendancy,  while  from  our  great  his- 
torians, from  Schlosser  and  Haeusser 
to  Treitschke,  the  ideal  of  liberty  has 
been  the  bright  guiding  star  of  their 
thought  and  their  work — never  the 
longing  for  unjustifiable  world-domin- 
ion: 

"Freiheit  die  ich  meine,  die  mein  herz  erfuellt, 
Komm  mit  deinen  Scheme,  lichtes  Engelbild." 

"Freedom,  that's  my  longing,  is  my  heart's 

delight, 
Bring  to  me  thy  halo,  Angel  image  bright." 

So  sings  Max  von  Schenkendorf 
from  the  deepest  heart  of  the  German 
people. 


79 


CHAPTER  VI 

WE  never  wanted  war   with 
England — how  often  shall 
I    repeat    it?    Our    only 
aim,  our  sole  ambition,  was  to  develop 
autonomously    alongside    of   England. 
Always  we  have  given  full  recognition 
to  the  importance  of  English  culture; 
nothing  would  have  been  more  to  our 
taste  than  to  work  hand  in  hand  with 
England  for  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion and  the  advancement  of  mankind. 
Certainly  no  more  complete  proof  of 
this  could  be  asked  than  the  history  of 
80 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

the  years  during  which  we  have  witK 
such  care  and  patience  kept  the  peace 
of  the  world;  than  the  tireless  efforts 
of  our  lofty-minded  Emperor  for  the 
maintenance  of  good  will  among  the 
nations. 

Now,  however,  when  war  has  been 
forced  upon  us  by  England,  we  will 
fight  to  a  finish  with  all  the  means  of 
technique,  with  all  the  resources  of  the 
art  of  war,  and  on  land  and  on  sea, 
in  the  air  and  beneath  the  ocean,  with 
all  the  heroism  to  which  the  German 
heart  has  steeled  itself  in  long  years  of 
peaceful  work;  if  necessary,  to  the  last 
drop  of  blood,  until  England  itself  of- 
81 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

f ers  the  hand  for  peace  —  England, 
which  too  late  will  realize  how  danger- 
ous it  is  to  drive  to  the  uttermost  a 
patient  and  peaceful  but  not  all-endur- 
ing nation  like  the  German,  which  now 
will  never  lay  down  its  arms  until  Eng- 
land shall  have  surrendered  its  self- 
assumed  policy  of  world-dominion, 
shall  have  professed  itself  satisfied  at 
last  to  be  that  which  it  is  entitled  to  be, 
in  honor  and  in  peace,  one  of  the  great 
cultural  nations  alongside  of  other 
cultural  nations. 

And  should  just  fate  give  us  victory 
in  the  war  now  raging,  then  shall  an 
amazed  world   realize   that   we   shall 
82 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

never  attempt  to  build  for  ourselves  a 
world-dominion  upon  the  ruins  of  van- 
quished neighbor  states. 

In  the  course  of  a  history  often  un- 
happy and  tragic,  the  lesson  has  come 
to  us  that  the  conquest  of  territory  pop- 
ulated by  strange  people,  that  dominion 
over  foreign  nationalities,  where  prac- 
ticed to  a  large  extent  can  never  lead 
to  healthy  development;  that  the  en- 
deavor to  obtain  even  limited  world-do- 
minion eats  up  the  marrow  of  the  peo- 
ple that  undertake  it  and  does  not 
strengthen  them.  Long  ago  we  real- 
ized also  that  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion cannot  rest  upon  the  material  or 

83 


intellectual  attainments  of  a  single  na- 
tion ;  that  on  the  contrary  spiritual  and 
intellectual  competition  of  varied  na- 
tional individualities  is  requisite  to  the 
attainment  of  the  highest  aims  of  hu- 
manity. 

If  victory  should  come  to  us,  as  the 
progress  of  the  war  thus  far  permits 
us  to  hope,  we,  of  course,  will  be  anx- 
ious to  strengthen  the  position  and 
power  of  our  own  nation  and  that  of 
our  allies  and  friends  in  Europe  in 
such  a  way  that  our  existence  as  a  state 
and  our  independence  will  never  again 
be  threatened,  as  it  has  been  threatened 
in  this  war.  This  we  owe  to  the  count- 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

less  fallen  heroes  who  have  shed  their 
blood  for  Germany's  future.  In  what 
way  that  is  to  be  done  cannot  as  yet 
be  told.  It  depends  entirely  upon  the 
course  of  the  events  of  the  war. 

One  thing,  however,  is  certain.  We 
shall  never  try  to  erect  our  power  upon 
the  shoulders  of  oppressed  and  subju- 
gated states. 

It  is  just  as  certain,  also,  that  we 
should  never  think  of  assuming  an  an- 
tagonistic attitude  toward  America, 
much  less  dream  of  questioning  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.  What  advantages 
could  we  possibly  expect  from  such  be- 
havior? Visionaries  talk  of  the  con- 

85 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

quest  of  Canada  by  the  Germans  and 
of  the  acquisition  of  other  colonies 
upon  the  continent! 

How  could  such  dreams,  even  if  they 
were  for  a  moment  cherished,  possibly 
be  carried  out?  If  we  are  so  happy 
as  to  achieve  an  outlook  for  enduring 
peace  at  home  on  the  advantages  of 
victory,  why  nullify  it  by  a  policy  of 
wild  adventure  abroad? 

Whence  would  come  the  enormous 
fleets  essential  in  order  to  carry  out 
an  attack  necessary  against  the  enor- 
mous resources  of  the  United  States, 
or  to  maintain  across  the  broad  Atlan- 
tic a  contact  of  communication  between 
86 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

an  attacking  army  and  the  home  coun- 
try? A  soldier  finds  it  very  difficult, 
indeed,  seriously  to  consider  such 
ideas,  which  are  the  creation  of 
thoughtless  prejudice  and  blind  hatred. 
Politically  an  absurdity,  and  from  the 
military  viewpoint  a  ridiculous  impossi- 
bility, dreams  like  this  belong  only  to 
the  sphere  of  bar-room  discussion. 

German  militarism  constitutes  no 
menace  to  America.  The  idea  that  the 
so-called  German  militarism — which, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  an  extravagant 
name  for  a  system  of  citizen  soldiery 
— might,  in  case  of  German  victory,  be- 
come a  danger  for  the  world  in  gen- 

87 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

eral,  and  especially  for  the  American 
Continent,  is  equally  groundless. 

The  German  social  and  state  idea, 
with  its  grouping  together  of  the  mili- 
tary forces  of  the  country,  like  the  well- 
planned  organization  of  our  civil  life, 
was  born  in  the  dangers  which  inhere 
in  our  geographical  position.  No  edu- 
cated German  will  entertain  the 
thought  of  attempting  to  impose  on 
other  states,  or  to  picture  as  patterns 
applicable  to  all  states  conditions  espe- 
cially required  by  our  peculiar  circum- 
stances; to  force  similar  institutions 
upon  states  the  geographical  positions 
of  which,  and  the  economical  and  po- 
88 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

litical  structures  of  which,  are  of  dif- 
ferent complexions.  The  social  and 
constitutional  conditions,  which  have  of 
imperative  necessity  developed  in  the 
course  of  our  often  tragic  history,  are 
extremely  different,  for  instance,  from 
those  of  a  nation  built  up  on  lines  such 
as  those  which  the  United  States  of 
America  has  followed  in  its  develop- 
ment. 

In  this  fact,  however,  surely  there 
lies  no  reason  for  animosity  on  either 
side.  Nobody  in  Germany  thinks  of 
exerting  unjustified  influence  upon 
America;  our  victory  in  Europe  would 
never  mislead  us  into  the  political,  the 

89 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

military  and  the  anti-social  stupidity  of 
suggesting  for  America  aims  which 
would  be  unnatural  to  the  interests  of 
the  United  States;  our  purpose,  if  the 
victory  be  ours,  will  be  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent one.  For  us  victory  would  be  a 
new  command  to  respect  American 
interests,  especially  as  we  would  have 
to  expect  on  the  other  hand  that 
America  would  not  interfere  disturb- 
ingly with  our  sphere  of  interests. 

To  all  other  nations,  moreover,  our 
good  wishes  would  go  forth,  and  our 
endeavors  would  be  directed,  for  their 
free  and  independent  development,  in 
order  that  their  best  traits,  which  can 
90 


GERMANY   AND   ENGLAND 

thrive  only  in  freedom,  might  be  devel- 
oped, together  with  our  own,  for  com- 
mon contribution  toward  world-wide 
peace  and  the  furtherance  of  the  high- 
est problems  of  humanity. 

This  we  consider  a  more  beautiful 
and  a  more  worthy  aim  than  that  of 
England,  to  fill  all  mankind  with  the 
English  spirit.  Such  an  aim  is,  indeed, 
the  most  congenial  to  the  German 
nation,  which  Treitschke  delineates  in 

r 

the  words: 

"Depth  of  thought,  idealism,  cosmo- 
politan views;  a  transcendent  philoso- 
phy which  boldly  oversteps  (or  freely 
looks  over)  the  separating  barriers  of 

91 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

finite  existence;  familiarity  with  every 
human  thought  and  feeling;  the  desire 
to  traverse  the  world-wide  realm  of 
ideas  in  common  with  the  foremost  in- 
tellects of  all  nations  and  all  times.  All 
that  has  at  all  times  been  held  to  be 
characteristic  of  the  Germans  and  has 
always  been  praised  as  the  privilege 
of  German  character  and  breeding." 

From  the  United  States  we  expect 
neither  direct  nor  indirect  help  in  this 
gigantic  struggle  for  existence.  Long 
ago  we  understood  that  the  only  vic- 
tories attained  through  its  own  strength 
count  in  the  history  of  a  nation.  We 
shall  therefore  fight  our  battle  to  the 
92 


GERMANY   AND    ENGLAND 

finish   alone,   with   German   iron   and 
with  German  blood. 

Should  there  really  be  in  the  United 
States  no  comprehension  of  the  epic 
importance  and  the  significance  for 
civilization  of  the  heroic  struggle  which 
Germany  to-day  is  compelled  to  wage 
against  an  entire  world  in  arms?  For 
my  part,  too  highly  do  I  esteem  the 
American  people  to  allow  myself  to  be- 
lieve that  there  can  be,  or  can  long 
endure  there,  such  a  total  lack  of 
understanding. 


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